Criminal justice reform advocates want to amend the Oklahoma Constitution to prohibit sentence enhancements based on previous felonies for nonviolent offenders. The measure would also allow nonviolent offenders serving enhanced sentences to seek a modification in court. “A former conviction for one or more felonies shall not be used to enhance the statutorily allowable range […]
criminal justice system
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Running the jail
(This story was updated Dec. 11 to include new information on the sheriff’s deadline and budget requests.) A jail administrator has been selected to run the Oklahoma County jail. Greg Williams, who has worked at Department of Corrections for nearly four decades, was selected unanimously by the jail trust in early November. However, he has […]
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Seeking justice
Julius Jones has spent nearly half of his life on death row. He was convicted for the 1999 murder of Paul Howell but always maintained his innocence and has now filed for clemency. He cites his innocence, inadequate representation and racism as the reasons for requesting commutation, a type of clemency. “I have spent the […]
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Chicken-Fried News: #ThanksNoThanks
Attorney General Mike Hunter wants to move forward on the death penalty in Oklahoma despite a report showing systemic flaws that sometimes result in wrongful convictions.